|
|
|
|
AgAir Update Dec 2007 - Dynanav announces the introduction of the "Z" factor Laser System During the past decade technology in the Air–Ag industry has moved ahead in leaps and bounds and not just in capital equipment such as aircraft but also in many of the support and service technologies. For example, the latest GPS mapping, data gathering and guidance systems from DynaNav are now extremely accurate at least in the x – y-axis, in other words horizontal flight mode. The challenge in this sector of the industry has always been to develop the elusive “z” factor that of an accurate in flight vertical height over ground recording and reference system. In
the mid 1990’s DynaNav integrated a hardware Laser product
that was available at that time and a workable solution was
developed and integrated into the DynaNav systems. Unfortunately
the Laser unit as well as being extremely expensive was also
excessively large and heavy which did not fit the DynaNav design
parameters of lightweight and small components and as a result
the project was shelved. However,
the exercise was not a lost cause as the concept was thoroughly
tested and very useful software solutions were developed. In
fact they were retained and are installed in the current core
software package of the DynaNav product. Recently
new Laser hardware technologies have entered the market place
and DynaNav engineers have had the pleasure of resurrecting the
software within the systems and integrating the two products.
The results are remarkable which should come as no surprise as
the unit being used is also installed in the US Army’s
unmanned aircraft program as part of their guidance systems. This
remarkable piece of equipment is manufactured by Ag Lasers out
of California and is called the LaserAce*. Its dimensions are
4.25 x 2.5 x 1.625 inches with a total weight of less than 12
ounces installed. For most aircraft or helicopters, it is
installed on an inspection plate on the underside of the wing or
fuselage of a helicopter. The
unit is vertically accurate to within inches and has a height
limit of 150 meters or 500 feet above the ground. A vertical reference display will provide a continuous stream of data on the left hand side of the DynaViz “heads up” display while in the “roadway” guidance mode. This will ensure that this critical information is within the Pilots line of sight at all times and will form part of his normal instrument scanning procedure without distraction.
Immediate
benefits of this new technology will be seen particularly in
seeding and fertilizing activities with much improved repetitive
deposition accuracies and minimized drift. DynaNav
Systems Inc. are pleased to announce that this package will be
offered as an option to any of their flight systems at a package
price of US$3300.00, FOB Pitt Meadows, BC, Canada, all duties
and taxes extra. In most cases this will also be a plug in option to existing DynaFlight-AirAgII systems. A call to the office will clarify the situation.
|
|
|
|
|
